Torchbearer

With the Rio Games set to begin on August 5, Paralympian Mami Sato reflects on competing on sports' ultimate stage.

Organizers of Tokyo’s bid for the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics made a shrewd decision when they tabbed Mami Sato as their first pitchman at the 2013 International Olympic Committee session.

“They asked me to set the atmosphere for Japan,” Sato says one recent morning at the Club. “I trained for one week for the speech. Of course, I was nervous. It was a big responsibility.”

As the nation waited to learn if Tokyo had won the right to host the 2020 Summer Games, the Japanese Paralympian beamed from behind the podium at the Buenos Aires Hilton and declared, “I am Mami Sato. And I am here because I was saved by sport.”

Overnight, she went from being an office worker to carrying the Paralympic torch for Japan before the 2014 Sochi Winter Games.

“I was so surprised,” says the Club’s 2014 Sportswoman of the Year. “I did not expect my speech would have that much impact.”

Being a cheerleader is nothing new to Sato. She was in her second year as a member of the Waseda University cheerleading squad when a nagging
foot pain gradually worsened. It was bone cancer, and Sato’s right leg was amputated below the knee.

Now 34, she says she was devastated. “I was 20 years old. My life would never be the same,” she says. “It was very difficult to go back to my
normal life.”

She was introduced to the Paralympics by a Waseda graduate who had won gold as a Paralympic swimmer. To adjust to running with a prosthetic leg, Sato took up track and field, through which she discovered the long jump.

Working during the day and training at night, she qualified for the 2004 Athens Paralympic Games. Sato leapt just short of 4 meters. The gold medalist cleared 5 meters.

“I was really moved by the Paralympians’ attitude and their discipline,” says Sato, who, despite a back injury, improved her distance at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics. “There were people in worse situations, but they were not depressed. They were very strong and working toward the future, trying to go above the limit.”

Sato nearly lost her family when the March 2011 tsunami decimated her hometown of Kesennuma in Miyagi Prefecture. Her focus on the long jump helped her cope with the tragedy, and she competed again at London in 2012. She later set a new Japan record of 5.02 meters, which was broken in 2014.

Two years ago, she began training to qualify for the triathlon at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. As she crossed the finish line at the Hiroshima Triathlon in April, she high-fived her husband and infant son.

“When I found out I had cancer, I never thought I would have a baby or travel the world competing in sports,” she says with a smile. “I am a lucky girl.”

Words: Nick Narigon

*Find stories about other Club Olympians in the print version of INTOUCH.